Written By: Robert D. Sollars
To most Christians, that is a preposterous statement. But in today’s .24 second news cycle & TV reality show world, 43 is much more insidious than the Biblical “sign of the beast”. How can that possibly be? Let me explain it more clearly, remembering…today’s world.
43% is actually the number that I’m talking about. Nearly 50% of all workplace/school violence (WPV/SV). But 43% of what you may be asking? 43% of all WPV/SV fatal incidents end with the perpetrator committing suicide. We see it innumerable times in the news and yet we don’t realize the carnage is so high on society and the families of the perpetrators.
Of course, the suicides take on various forms as well which helps to ensure that the number is side-tracked into anonymity, not to mention that we silently thank heaven they are gone. From the perpetrator who kills themselves with a gunshot or other self-inflicted injury, to the person who commits suicide by cop. This last one is the one you see or hear most often.
Of the approximately 700 people killed while at work every year in the 15 million incidents yearly, that the perpetrators will account for an additional approx. 300 deaths. This doesn’t account for the innumerable incidents that occur off-site, which aren’t officially attributed to violence.
As WPV came to prominence in the mid-80s, an ex-postal employee went to his supervisor’s house and killed her, proceeding to a co-worker’s home, doing the same thing, before going to the postal distribution center and killing several more…before taking his own life.
Likewise, the shooter at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012, killed his mother before heading to the school to kill innocent children. She’s not counted in the official statistics either. #1, she’s a ‘vile person who permitted it & #2, it happened at her, and the shooters, home.
These ancillary but related incidents are rarely attributed as such anymore. Individuals, much fewer family members People killed in their home are not included in the official Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) or Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) statistics.
The main reason for that? Because it didn’t happen at an official work or educational site, therefore, it simply doesn’t count. It should, but the government forces it down this way. Just like that who commit suicide and taking the coward’s way out of justice. They don’t count either…unless they were actually working at the time, they killed someone else.
The media is complicit with this reporting as well, reporting it this way:
“The shooter killed 3 employees and wounded several customers before committing suicide. Again 3 are dead at Such and Such location and the gunman is dead, police have stated. We will update you as details warrant.” If you read the unspoken lines, it states that the perpetrator is secondary and not worth counting in the overall number of dead…because they caused it and are unworthy of being mentioned. While this statement may be true, it doesn’t lessen the number of dead.
Suicide should be counted in the overall numbers of dead/wounded in a WPV/SV as well. I’m not asking for leniency or sympathy for the perpetrator, just understanding that they think what they are doing makes perfect sense and they completed their task…time to go bye-bye…forever.
Whatever the reason they completed their “last mission of the day”, remembering that there are innumerable ways (including firearms, poison, & arson), these people don’t want to face the judicial system and be held accountable. Some may have been in prison before for another offense or as I stated above, they have completed their killing…time to go.
Are you wondering how many get arrested and/or willingly give up? 52%. The other 1% believes they can get away and run off before being captured and arrested…and they do try.
One last statistic that you may find interesting as well. In 2019, when I was finalizing my book on workplace violence, the statistic I had for perpetrator suicides was 66%! In a matter from 2018 to the stats were released, it dropped that fast. That means that more of these cowards are facing justice for what they did…or are they just not being reported at all anymore?
I May be Blind, but my Vision is Crystal Clear
Permission to share? Of course, with full attribution
Copyright 2020 Robert D. Sollars
